About Us

Graham Legal is a family owned legal practice offering personalised service.

Graham Legal provides a variety of superior legal services to clients over a wide area of Melbourne and no matter where in the world those clients' travels may take them.

The Graham Legal team is devoted to the task of providing an ever improving standard of care and service. We only accept work in areas of law in which we have established and recognised expertise.

Graham Legal's policy is to work on all client files as a team. We delegate individual tasks to the person who will best get the client's work done having regard to the nature of the task to be performed, the skills of our respective team members and to maximise cost efficiency for our client.

  Our personal and company mission is to do better today at what we did well yesterday.

Our History:

Graham Legal has not always been known by that name.

Phillip Graham is the Managing Director and Principal Lawyer of Graham Legal. Phillip was admitted to practise as a Barrister & Solicitor on 1 March 1976 and, a month later, he was admitted to partnership in the practice then known as Telfer & Graham. In those days the practice was located in Sunshine. In April 1996 the practice became known as Graham Sievers & Lee.

The Essendon practice was opened on 1 February 1990 (under the name Phillip W. Graham & Associates) but it too became known as Graham Sievers & Lee from April 1996.

The partnership of Graham Sievers & Lee was dissolved in 2004 and our association with the former Sunshine practice ended at that time. It was in 2004 that we assumed our present name "Graham Legal".  

Our commitment to our clients:

Graham Legal’s commitment is to deliver prompt legal services of the highest possible professional standards. It is our aim to carry out every file to our client's complete satisfaction. Please take time to review our client Testimonials. .

Our aim is to give our clients the best possible service. This includes keeping clients fully informed about their matter, regularly providing written confirmation of important instructions received and advice given. We also maintain computer and diary systems that work to ensure that client files are never overlooked.

Whilst Graham Legal’s lawyers are encouraged to be accessible to their clients, they will not always be available to see clients without an appointment or to speak to them whenever they telephone. Accordingly, clients are encouraged to email or telephone and make an appointment before attending our Office – this will ensure that their Solicitor will be available to give proper attention to their matter.

Sometimes clients need to be reminded that it costs no more to see their Solicitor in person than it does to speak over the telephone.

Graham Legal has already devoted considerable resources to the establishment of computer and file management systems that enable us to handle typical legal work accurately and in a cost efficient way. Please take time to review Our Technology page.

The Practice's policy is to develop multi-skilled lawyers who are not only capable of working in a variety of legal areas, but who are also able to work independently and with minimal secretarial assistance.

Yet, Graham Legal's secretarial and clerical support staff are also integral to the overall performance of the Practice. The facilities and training provided to these members of the Practice are designed to give diverse skills and experiences. This ensures that our people can work in a variety of legal areas and that they are able to provide valuable support to our lawyers. The Practice strives to ensure that everyone recognises their own valuable place within the Graham Legal team.

The Practice has identified that clients of legal firms generally have two main complaints about their lawyers. First, they complain that lawyers charge too much and, secondly, they complain that lawyers are too slow and unreliable.

Graham Legal lawyers are required to carefully explain to each and every client how the fee scales work. It is important that our clients know how much they are likely to be charged for the work being done for them. The Practice does not want to be in dispute with a client at the conclusion of a file.

Graham Legal lawyers are required to periodically give verbal and written advice to the Practice's clients both as to the costs incurred to date and also as to the costs likely to be incurred to bring the client's matter to the next logical stage. Where appropriate, clients may be required to pay costs in advance. Disbursements exceeding $100.00, including fees to Counsel, will wherever practical be payable by the client before the expense is incurred.

However, the key to the growth and prosperity of the Practice lies in the way it responds to the second complaint "that lawyers are too slow and unreliable". In that regard Graham Legal’s sophisticated and practice focused technology permits extraordinary efficiency and file turnaround.

Our team follows checklists, office policies and procedures to ensure that no file is overlooked. These checklists, policies and procedures are continually modified and improved arising out of changes in the law, the continuing advance in world technology and our lawyers' experiences in the fields of practice in which they work.